National Book Awards

The 2009 National Book Award Winners were announced on Wednesday evening.  The event, sponsored by the National Book Foundation, was held in Manhattan.  Here is the winner and finalists for the award in Fiction.

Winner- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Finalists- American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
Far North by Marcel Theroux
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin


Visit this site for more information on the National Book Foundation and the other award categories.

A book far cooler than I am

Every once in a while, I find a book that sounds so different from anything else I've seen that I can't help but read it.  Enter Going Bovine by Libba Bray.  The title alone had me a bit curious... and then, I heard the description.  To put it in a nutshell, a teenager with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (aka "Mad Cow Disease") goes on a quest to save the world with a death-obsessed dwarf and a Norse god cursed to immortality as a garden gnome as travelling companions.  He gets his guidance from a punk angel only he can see.  Oh, and the key to saving the world is at Disney World's "It's a Small World" ride.  Okay, Libba Bray, just stop...you had me at garden gnome/Norse god.  This I had to read.

I'd never heard of Libba Bray before, probably because I haven't read a lot of YA lit.  In fact until a few years ago, I didn't even realize that there was an entire section devoted to Young Adult literature.  Did this designation even exist when I could be classifed as part of it?  In the past few years, though, a lot of YA lit has made a big impact beyond the teen set (and if you don't think I'm right, how many people do you know over 30 who've already bought their tickets for the next Twilight movie?).  Recently, I've read several YA books, not intentionally seeking out books in that category, but just because they sounded good.  In the way of all good books, regardless of the demographic to whom they're targeted, YA books often address deeper issues in an artistic and thought-provoking way.  In Going Bovine Bray, tackles mortality, the importance of friends and family, and being true to yourself in the materialistic reality-world driven culture we're surrounded by.  Not bad for a book with that'll get "It's a Small World After All" stuck in your head. 

Cooler weather, cozier reading

I'm never sure how to answer the question, "What's your favorite book?"  Maybe I just have an indecisive personality, but I find that the books I enjoy are dependent on a variety of factors: What mood am I in? What have I been reading recently?  Where am I?  What's the weather like?  You might think I'm being flip with the last one, but now that the leaves have fallen and the weather is getting chillier, I'm find myself leaning toward books that are a little cozier.  After a plan to read only "beachy" books during the past several months failed spectacularly, I'm a little weary of heavy, literary turmoil and angst.

I can't bring myself to read authors like Rosamunde Pilcher or Maeve Binchy in the summer because reading them, to me, requires being cuddled up in a blanket with a big mug of tea.  (Nevermind that I won't drink the tea because no matter how much I think I will, I don't like tea...it's just a necessary part of the experience.)  That's what makes them perfect for this season: the blanket and untouched cup of tea make more sense in November than in July. I  knew I had reached my cozy stage recently when I started to read Lionel Shriver's The Post-Birthday World, which came highly recommended to me.  I admire Shriver's writing, but to say that her style is a little heavy is like saying Wile E. Coyote doesn't love the Roadrunner.  Her book, We Need to Talk About Kevin had me a nervous wreck for days.  When I recently tried to read the newer book, it sat there untouched for days.  It reminded me of a cup of tea in July.

So, for now, I'm sticking to the cozier fare.  I  might revisit an old favorite, The Shell Seekers, since it's been years since I read it.  Of course, there are several Katie Fforde books I've not yet read, and those would be perfect for the cozy mood I'm in.  She writes in the chick lit genre, but rather than the fast-paced world of London or New York publishing houses, her books tend to take place in the English countryside, with comic misadventures following the heroines back to their homes heated by the Aga range.  Perfect for a blanket a cup of hot tea.

In the Queue

100 Heartbeats: A Journey To Meet Our Planet’s Endangered Animals & Save the Heroes Working To Save Them
by Jeff Corwin
Corwin, the host of The Animal Planet series, takes readers on a trek around the world and through the wilderness, jungles, and deserts that many endangered animals call home.

Too Much Happiness
by Alice Munro
This group of stories shares difficult, complex, even harrowing emotions and events that people face and how they handle them.

No Less Than Victory: A Novel of World War II
by Jeff Shaara
In this 3rd book of his trilogy, Shaara tells the story of the Allies’ push through Europe to destroy the Nazis once and for all. Following the success of the Normandy landings, they are surprised when German forces break through the American position at the Battle of the Bulge.